THE TURTLER’S STORY. 138 
formed of intricate meshes, into which the poor 
turtles once entrapped are only the more en 
tangled the more they attempt to extricate them- 
selves, Frequently they are harpooned in the 
usua! way. 
The turtlers, men of humble birth, must ne 
cessarily possess energy and enterprise for their 
vocation. These qualities not unfrequently raise 
to higher stations, and a naval officer with whom 
Audubon met had formerly been a turtler. He 
was accustomed to relate many an exciting ad- 
venture which gave proof of the perils to which 
those who engage in such a career are exposed 
Among them was the following :— 
The Curtler’s Story. 
In the valm of a fine moonlight night as I 
was admiring the beauty of the heavens, and the 
broad glare of light that flamed from the trem- 
bling surface of the water around, I chanced to 
be paddling along a sandy shore which I thought 
well fitted for my repose, being covered with 
tall grass, and as the sun was not many degrees 
above the horizon, I felt anxious to pitch my 
musquito bar or net, and spend the night in the 
wilderness. The bellowing notes of thousands 
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